A rest is a space for someone else to contribute a note, whether they mean to or not. Give others a chance.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Playing rests
- Thread starter Moe Monsarrat
- Start date
Often the space we leave is for the benefit of the listeners as much as (or more than) it is for the musicians.
I've been told, knowing when NOT to play is a sign of a mature and disciplined bass player. It also emphasizes the notes you DO play that much more.
Whenever I'm resting, I *NEVER* play a wrong note!
Technically speaking, whenever you're resting, playing ANY note would be the wrong note.
I found that playing a slow tempo is harder to time than a fast tempo. You'd think otherwise but playing slowly is a bigger challenge on your timing because you have less of a timing reference to work with. Playing to a slow metronome is a good exercise. Try it and see how close your timing is on the mark. You might be surprised.
I play in an Amish speedmetal band. There is no room for rests. We tried.
Yeah, think about "Highway to Hell", "Roxanne", Beethoven 5th or anything else without rest! I think Sting said he looked at notes as being picture frames around rest.
I meant rests in new pieces in elementary and middle school.
We got play tested constantly as a section, and individually in school band classes. It ramps up stress and pressure when you get singled out. Eventually someone in your section loses their seat and slides down the row bc the individuals are rarely those who played whatever measures passably.
Playing music is a combination of feel playing, in a flow.
So rests are part of feel and flow... not physical playing as such...a rest interrupts the physical flow not the mental one..
You can read a rest on a score or chord sheet but you cannot play it.. You have to feel it, the same applies if you learn by ear...you feel rests.
Counting and feel can be seen as the same thing.
So play a Brieve (a whole note).. You hit the note once and feel the next seven beats, over two bars of 4/4, before you release,
So it can be seen as a note with a seven beat rest, as the next physical action to hit a note is interrupted by the notes value,.
So play quarter notes over two bars of 4/4 and you hit the note 8 times with eight releases.
The mental process of counting is the same, the feel is different because of the note value being used, but the music is still flowing.
Both require the same mental skill in counting and feel, but a different physical skill in approach.
Music flows,s a rest interrupts the physical flow, not the mental flow... note values can be seen in the same way.
So rests are part of feel and flow... not physical playing as such...a rest interrupts the physical flow not the mental one..
You can read a rest on a score or chord sheet but you cannot play it.. You have to feel it, the same applies if you learn by ear...you feel rests.
Counting and feel can be seen as the same thing.
So play a Brieve (a whole note).. You hit the note once and feel the next seven beats, over two bars of 4/4, before you release,
So it can be seen as a note with a seven beat rest, as the next physical action to hit a note is interrupted by the notes value,.
So play quarter notes over two bars of 4/4 and you hit the note 8 times with eight releases.
The mental process of counting is the same, the feel is different because of the note value being used, but the music is still flowing.
Both require the same mental skill in counting and feel, but a different physical skill in approach.
Music flows,s a rest interrupts the physical flow, not the mental flow... note values can be seen in the same way.
I grew up on rock, played some prog. I was leaning a jazz tune in 7/8 time last week and counting did not help!
Can’t speak for everyone, but counting never worked for me. One of my early instructors who came from a Classical background was big on counting. I’d get really frustrated and was soon thinking of quitting until I got a new teacher who was a jazzer. He said to count if you had to. Counting was ok if you just wanted to play notes. But feeling “the pulse” and “scoping the vibe” was what you needed to do if you wanted to play music.
That worked for me. If I can feel it, I can play it. If I can’t, counting doesn't help me one iota. More power to the people who can routinely “count it out” and benefit from it. But I’m not one of them.
Listen to and count Pink Floyd’s Money (which is in 7 except for the solo part in 4) then transfer that sense of rhythm to the jazz tune.
Jethro Tull’s Living in the Past is in 5; Rush’s Tom Sawyer is partly in 7.
Last edited:
No, I don’t have trouble with 7/8 time in jazz or rock. I just need to hear it. It’s the counting that messes me up.
I just started playing Tom Sawyer in my cover band.
Same here! I was at a jazz combo class last week, playing a Dave Holland tune in 7/8. Instructor counts us in by counting to 7....Can’t speak for everyone, but counting never worked for me. One of my early instructors who came from a Classical background was big on counting. I’d get really frustrated and was soon thinking of quitting until I got a new teacher who was a jazzer. He said to count if you had to. Counting was ok if you just wanted to play notes. But feeling “the pulse” and “scoping the vibe” was what you needed to do if you wanted to play music.
That worked for me. If I can feel it, I can play it. If I can’t, counting doesn't help me one iota. More power to the people who can routinely “count it out” and benefit from it. But I’m not one of them.
It’s easier to just do a 4 count and start playing.
Vocal major in College and was taught to count 5's &7's as 2-3/3-2 and 3-4/4-3 respectively, depending on where you feel the pulse of the measure.
